After the sun sets, the money men rise

We all wondered what would happen to the Sun ethos when Oracle bought Sun Microsystems. Sun, you may recall, developed Java and Open Office; the latter available free and the former either free or for very little.

Google knows. Oracle is trying to sue the pants off it for infringing on Java copyrights in Android. In fact, an oracle expert witness has declared that Google owes Oracle ‘billions’; testimony that Google contests of course.

One interesting point, however, is that Google doesn’t seem to be denying a basic infringement here, only that the value owed has been massively overcalculated by the witness.

I guess its just legal jockeying. Oracle wants a bigger slice of Android than Google is willing to give. But even so, it’s sad when an ethos dies. And its worth considering that free and open software may not always be free and open.